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Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Sink these submarines

The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) believes it is on the brink of achieving an objective set more than 20 years ago. Admirals say that only the formality of a cabinet decision stands between them and three submarines. The cabinet should object to this decision. The navy's actions on subs remain opaque, unexplained and quite possibly wrong.

The current situation is supposedly this. A navy-appointed, 17-member committee studied submarines on sale around the world. The navy has never discussed funding, but the government said the committee's operations cost 200 million baht.

A majority concluded that a Chinese diesel model is best suited for the country, with "superior weaponry and technology". The subs cost 12 billion baht each, meaning taxpayers are being told they must pay 36 billion baht to obtain the vessels. The government must approve the sale.